June 2013 - tdwg - lists.tdwg.org

In Memoriam Dr Richard Pankhurst
by Mergen Patricia 14 Dec '15

14 Dec '15

Dear Colleagues, On behalf of TDWG we are very sorry to inform you that Richard John Pankhurst passed away on Tuesday 26 March after fighting oesophageal cancer for many years. He was a very important contributer and friend of TDWG, as can be judged from his short CV from the BioCISE directory: Dr Richard Pankhurst began his career in computing in the computer section at CERN, Geneva in 1963, and moving back to Cambridge to work on Computer-Aided Design in 1966. In 1971 he moved to the Botany School, Cambridge to begin work on his PANKEY programs for identification and key construction. This was continued at the Botany department of the Natural History Museum from 1974 until 1991, where he was for many years curator of the British herbarium, and also worked on the Flora Meso-Americana. "Biological Identification", 1978, was the first textbook on computer methods in identification. A new version of this book was published by C.U.P in 1991. Also published in that year was the Flora of the Outer Hebrides. With over 50 publications of refereed papers and books in the fields of taxonomic computing he has made major contributions to these fields. Dr. Pankhurst has been very active recently in programming and managing botanical databases (Flora Europaea, BSBI database and PANDORA) and systems with images. He was appointed Principal Scientific Officer at the RGB Edinburgh in 1991. Dr. Pankhurst served on various committees of British and international organizations, among others. Botanical Society of the British Isles, Committee for Scotland and Database Committee. Botanical Society of Scotland, Council. Taxonomic Databases Working Group, convener of Descriptors Group. International Organisation for Plant Information, co-convener of Information Systems Committee, Checklist Committee. Dr. Pankhurst was the head of the Department of Taxonomic Computing at RGBE. After his official retirement, he compiled a large database of the Rose family. His work on recording the wild flowers of the Outer Hebrides took him frequently to these remote islands on behalf of the Botanical Society of the British Isles. His interest in Taraxacum (dandelions) was acknowledged when a species found only on St. Kilda was named *Taraxacum pankhurstianum*. In Richard, not only a very important scientist was lost to our community, but also a very pleasant collaborator and friend . <patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be> Dr. Patricia Mergen (General Secretary of TDWG, on behalf of the Executive Committee) Head of Biodiversity Information and Cybertaxonomy Royal Museum for Central Africa Leuvensesteenweg 13 B-3080 Tervuren Belgium + 32 2 769 5 *626* patricia.mergen(a)africamuseum.be

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EXTENDED SUBMISSION DEADLINE: CAMP-4-DATA Workshop "Cyber-infrastructure & Metadata Protocols" - Lisbon, Portugal
by DCMI Announce 28 Jun '13

28 Jun '13

*Apologies for cross-posting* === EXTENDED DEADLINE for Participation: CAMP-4-DATA Workshop in Lisbon === "CAMP-4-DATA WORKSHOP: Cyber-infrastructure & Metadata Protocols" Dublin Core-Science and Metadata Community (DC-SAM) and Research Data Alliance (RDA) are hosting a day-long Metadata Interest Group workshop on 6 September 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal. Submissions for participation are currently open in the areas of short papers, abstracts, and position statements. Metadata is vital to the discovery and management of scientific data. DC-SAM, RDA, and related communities advocate for access to, and shared knowledge about, metadata standards that support data life-cycle management. CAMP-4-DATA participants will explore infrastructure design, applications, and policies that can advance the support of open, collective and sustainable access to metadata standards used for managing scientific data. The intent of this workshop is to discuss and forward challenges and opportunities relating to metadata standards for the management of scientific data, and how policies, applications, and infrastructure can foster creation of and access to sustainable, open, and collective standards. The CAMP-4-DATA workshop is part of post-conference activities of DC-2013. Submissions will remain open through 12 July 2013. ============= --FULL PARTICIPATION CALL: http://dcevents.dublincore.org/IntConf/index/pages/view/camp-4-data-cfp --WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: http://dcevents.dublincore.org/IntConf/index/pages/view/camp-4-data --E X T E N D E D SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 12 JULY 2013 --DC-2013 WEBSITE: http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2013 (registration open / day registration available) =============

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DC-2013 Special W3C-Sponsored Session on Vocabulary Preservation
by DCMI Announce 26 Jun '13

26 Jun '13

***** PLEASE EXCUSE THE CROSS-POSTING***** "Long-term Preservation and Governance of RDF Vocabularies" Special session, DC-2013, Lisbon, 3 September DC-2013 WEBSITE: http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2013 DC-2013 DATES: 2-6 September 2013 DC-2013 PLACE: Lisbon, Portugal ================================= SESSION SPONSOR: W3C & DCMI SESSION DATE/TIME: 3 September, 11:30-1600 (Day registration available on conference wesbite) SESSION MODERATORS: -- Phil Archer, World Wide Web Consortium -- Thomas Baker, Dublin Core Metadata Initiative -- Ivan Herman, World Wide Web Consortium -- Pierre-Yves Vandenbussche, Fujitsu -- Bernard Vatant, Mondeca ================================= The oldest RDF vocabularies in existence are just fifteen years old. It is time to look systematically at how ownership and responsibility for today's vocabularies will pass to the next generation. DCMI and W3C are sponsoring a special session at the DC-2013 conference in Lisbon on 3 September about the long-term preservation and governance of RDF vocabularies [1]. This session focuses on issues related to the usability of RDF vocabularies in the long term (as defined in "decades") -- continued access to documentation, inheritance of ownership and maintenance responsibility, and the continued resolvability of domain names. What role might memory institutions play in the long-term preservation of vocabularies? A discussion paper has been prepared as a starting point for this session [2], and readers are welcome to post comments or suggestions on the DC-VOCABULARY mailing list ([3], sign up at [4]). [1] http://dcevents.dublincore.org/IntConf/index/pages/view/vocPres [2] http://wiki.dublincore.org/index.php/Vocabulary_Preservation_discussion_pap… [3] https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=DC-VOCABULARY [4] https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=DC-VOCABULARY&A=1

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Vocabulary management group report: invitation to review
by Éamonn Ó Tuama [GBIF] 20 Jun '13

20 Jun '13

The Vocabulary Management Task Group (VoMaG) is a task group under the TDWG Technical Architecture Group. It addresses the best practices for the collaborative development and maintenance of vocabularies for the description of biodiversity resources. VoMaG, meeting via the GBIF community site [1], has released a second draft report [2] on the outcomes of its deliberations. The editors are now issuing a call for interested parties to review the draft. Please consider providing feedback on the report. This should be sent to vomag-report(a)gbif.org before 1st August 2013. Alternatively, you may post comments to the dedicated discussion page [3] on the GBIF community site. With regards, Éamonn Ó Tuama (on behalf of editorial team) [1] http://community.gbif.org/pg/groups/21382/ [2] http://community.gbif.org/pg/file/read/34059/ [3] http://community.gbif.org/pg/forum/topic/34057/

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Biodiversity Informatics Horizons 2013
by Dave Roberts 19 Jun '13

19 Jun '13

Biodiversity Informatics Horizons 2013 (BIH2013) is part of a continuing process to structure and organise the biodiversity informatics community at the European level and beyond. BIH2013, organised by several EU projects[1], will take place over 3 full days, from lunchtime on Tuesday 3rd September to lunchtime Friday 6th, with workshops and training events on Tuesday Morning and Friday morning. The venue will be in Sapienza University, Rome. The intention behind the meeting is to bring together those likely to form consortia for H2020 funding in this domain. With some luck we should have access to the H2020 workplans by September so that the consortia will not be forming entirely in the dark. We understand from the European Commission that they would like to see a greater level of cooperation, so less direct competition, in the responses to H2020 calls. Invited speakers will review challenging areas and promising technologies in biodiversity informatics, pathways to sustainable implementation and changing the community culture in the context of the LifeWatch vision, decadal priorities for biodiversity informatics, and the EC roadmap workshop on biodiversity infrastructures. Demonstration and training activities will demonstrate some of the new and exciting infrastructure building blocks that will come together to deliver the LifeWatch vision. A panel discussion with experts from regions of the world beyond Europe will explore opportunities for international cooperation that lead towards a sustainable global infrastructure. There will also be a plenary discussion on working together towards building a more sustainable future, informed by networking opportunities throughout the conference. The conference web site is http://conference.lifewatch.unisalento.it/index.php/EBIC/BIH2013 Register before 31 July for early registration conference fee. A demonstration session is available for persons wanting to show a software product or poster and we invite anyone to contact Dr Aaike De Wever <aaike.dewever_at_naturalsciences.be> to book a space before 12th August. Alex Hardisty, Dave Roberts and Alberto Basset (on behalf of the organising committee) [1] BIH2013 is sponsored by BioVel, ViBRANT, LifeWatch, EUBrazilOpenBio and pro-iBiosphere. It has been organised with help from agINFRA, BioFresh, BIO_SOS, CReATIVE-B, e-Monocot, ENVRI, EU-BON, iMarine, Lifewatch, Natural Europe, OpenUp! and PESI. -- Dr D.McL. Roberts, Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5086 ViBRANT Project Manager, Dept. Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Great Britain Email: dmr at nomencurator dot org Web page: http://vbrant.eu Web page: http://scratchpads.eu Web page: http://www.editwebrevisions.info/ -- "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try and give it to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new." [Steve Jobs, quoted in The Guardian, Technology Section, 25 June 09]. --

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iDigBio Public Participation Post-doc
by Austin Mast 18 Jun '13

18 Jun '13

Dear Colleagues, I would be grateful if you would forward this on to any potential candidates. Thanks! Postdoctoral Position in Public Participation in Digitization of Biodiversity Collections A postdoctoral position is available with iDigBio in the research group of Austin Mast (Department of Biological Science, Florida State University; http://www.bio.fsu.edu/faculty-mast.php) to study engagement of the public in the digitization of biodiversity research collections, produce best practice and standards documents related to this in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, and assist in the design of interoperability between the iDigBio portal/cloud, public participation tools, and public participation content management systems. iDigBio (www.idigbio.org) is the central resource for NSF's Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections Program (ADBC), and it is located at the University of Florida and Florida State University. There are approximately 1 billion biodiversity specimens at US institutions, but only about 10% of these are digitized (e.g., databased, georeferenced, and/or digitally imaged). ADBC is funding large-scale, collaborative digitization by thematic collection networks (TCNs) focused on particular research themes. Seven TCNs involving 134 institutions have been funded to date, with more to be announced in July. Among other activities, iDigBio is overseeing implementation of standards and best practices for digitization in this community and developing a cloud environment for existing and future digital content about biodiversity specimens and a portal to it. A Ph.D. in a relevant field (e.g., biodiversity research, biodiversity informatics) is required, as is demonstration of (1) familiarity with biodiversity collections and some aspect of their digitization, (2) familiarity with (or interest to learn) relevant principles of informatics, (3) successful collaboration and time management skills, and (4) successful written and oral communication skills. The postdoctoral scholar will be expected to interact positively and productively with a wide range of people (more so than in many other postdoctoral positions), including other members of iDigBio, members of the large ADBC community (e.g., in working groups and workshops), software developers working on digitization tools, other members of the citizen science community, and members of the public. Annual salary starts at $40,000, and the position is expected to be for two years. It is based in Tallahassee, Florida, a small state capital bordered on the south and west by the Apalachicola National Forest and on the north by the historical hunting plantations of the Red Hills Region. White-sand beaches, clear freshwater springs, and hiking and biking trails are within easy driving distances of town. The region is one of North America's biotic hotspots. To apply, send a cover letter and CV with contact information for three references in a single pdf file to Austin Mast (amast(a)bio.fsu.edu) In the cover letter, please cite past activities that demonstrate each of (1) through (4) above as well as provide the date on which you could start the position and a paragraph or two on your long-term career goals and how you see this position fitting into them. Applications will be considered beginning on July 8 until the position is filled. Florida State University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. With best regards, Austin Austin Mast Associate Professor Director of the Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium Associate Editor, Systematic Biology and Systematic Botany Member of the Steering Committee of iDigBio, The National Resource for Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections Department of Biological Science 319 Stadium Drive Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306-4295 U.S.A. Office: King Life Science Building, room 4065 Lab: King Life Science Building, rooms 4068 and 4084 Herbarium: Biological Science Unit One, room 100 Voice: 1 (850) 645-1500 Fax: 1 (850) 645-8447 amast(a)bio.fsu.edu

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2nd Call for Participation: CAMP-4-DATA Workshop @ DC-2013
by DCMI Announce 10 Jun '13

10 Jun '13

*Apologies for cross-posting* === *2nd Call for Participation: CAMP-4-DATA Workshop @ DC-2013* === Dublin Core-Science and Metadata Community and Research Data Alliance are hosting a day-long Metadata Interest Group workshop, CAMP-4-DATA, on Sept. 6, 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal. The workshop is part of DC-2013. Submissions for participation are currently open in the areas of short papers, abstracts, and position statements. The intent of this workshop is to discuss and forward challenges and opportunities relating to metadata standards for the management of scientific data, and how policies, applications, and infrastructure can foster creation of and access to sustainable, open, and collective standards. Submissions will remain open through 28 June 2013. ============= *--PARTICIPATION CALL:* http://dcevents.dublincore.org/IntConf/index/pages/view/camp-4-data-cfp *--WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:* http://dcevents.dublincore.org/IntConf/index/pages/view/camp-4-data *--SUBMISSION DEADLINE:* 28 June 2013 *--DC-2013 WEBSITE:* http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2013 (registration open) =============

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DC-2013/iPRES-2013 registration is now open!
by DCMI Announce 09 Jun '13

09 Jun '13

*Apologies for cross-posting* === DC-2013/iPRES 2013 INVITATION TO REGISTER === Registration for DC-2013 --Linking to the Future-- is now open. The conference will take place 2-6 September 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal. The conference website: http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2013. The DC-2013 conference theme explores questions regarding the persistence, maintenance, and preservation of metadata and descriptive vocabularies. The need for stable representations and descriptions spans all sectors including cultural heritage and scientific data, eGovernment, finance and commerce. In addition to the theme, presentations and discussion will cover a broad range of topics on innovation in metadata design and practice. DC-2013 will be collocated with iPRES-2013. Both conferences will take place in the same venue and run in parallel. During the collocated events, delegates are welcome to choose sessions that best fit their interests from either conference. Keynotes are held in common plenaries; and, social events are shared, providing a excellent opportunity for DCMI and iPRES delegates to socialize, share common interests and network. Delegates of the two conferences may separately register for a mix of pre- and post-conference events organized by the conference committees of both iPRES and DCMI. DC-2013 speakers and tutorial leads include: Gildas Illien, Ivan Herman, Richard Wallis, Steven Miller, Kai Eckert, and Daniel Garijo, among many others. Full-day workshops include: (1) VocDay 2013: Managing Vocabularies, sponsored by the DC-Vocabulary Management Community and DC-Bibliographic Metadata Task Group; and (2) CAMP-4-Data: Cyber-infrastructure and Metadata Protocols, sponsored by DC-Science & Metadata Community (DC-SAM) & the Research Data Alliance (RDA). To learn more about the conference program and to register, go to the conference website http://purl.org/dcevents/dc-2013. DC-2013 and iPRES-2013 share a common registration. Early registration closes on 8 July: €350 early regular, early student €250 (to 8 July) €375 regular & student (after 8 July) --Separate rates apply for pre-/post-conference sessions on Monday and Friday --Day rates are available Registration questions? Contact for DC/iPRES 2013: ipres2013(a)ist.utl.pt We look forward to seeing you in Lisbon in September.

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